Kerpoof
To view my Kerpoof video click this link: Kerpoof and follow the steps below.
1. Click login in the upper right-hand corner.
2. Type in this information: Nickname: ED401 Password: ABC123
3. You will then be logged in and will need to click on the small bag icon that is to the left of the blond girl.
4. Then, a smaller screen will pop up and you will need to click on the project that is the first one on the left entitled, "Web 2.0 Tool Final."
5. Lastly, click play when the project opens.


The first web 2.0 tool that I investigated and used is called, Kerpoof. After using this tool, I would highly recommend Kerpoof to elementary teachers. Membership is not required to use this website, but if a person would want to save their work they would need to be a member to do so. What is great about this site is that membership is free and a teacher can even create a username and password for each student. This way both the student and teacher can have access to the students’ creations. This site allows a person to create their own picture, movie, ecard, or story using the site’s scene templates, clipart, and drawing tools. It also contains a fun spelling game that students can play called, “Spell a Picture.” Kerpoof could easily be used in the RLA curriculum in many ways. This site could simply be used for early finishers to just create, imagine, or play the spelling game. To use as a whole class, the opportunities for this tool are endless. It could be used to have students create their own story for a creative writing activity or students could create scenes for a movie. The teacher could have the students leave out any script for this movie and have the students trade movies with one another to have them write the script for one another’s movies. The “Make a Drawing” feature could allow the students to draw what they visualized while reading a certain selection from a book or poem. The intended purpose of the video I created using Kerpoof was for students to read the beginning of a story I wrote, watch it come to life, and then write the rest of the story. I would provide students with the beginning of the story on a sheet of paper and then they could write the rest of the story on this paper. The main idea of my creation is that it is a story starter. A teacher could also have students create story starters for one another and create a movie introducing the beginning of the story like I did. Overall, a teacher really has numerous possibilities for ways to incorporate this tool into RLA and what is very important is that it would be incredibly easy for elementary students to use.



Blabberize

Blabberize Video(If the embedded version is not working, click the link entitled, "Blabberize Video" to the left and you will be able to view the video via the website.)
The second Web 2.0 tool that I explored is called, Blabberize. This tool has a very user friendly set-up and basic membership is free. Having the membership allows you to save your Blabberized creations. I feel that this tool could easily be integrated into a RLA curriculum. For instance, I created a Blabberized photograph of Beverly Cleary to introduce a class to this author and to give the students a model for what I would like them to do. I would have the students write author reports and then create a Blabberized picture of their author that includes information about their author. I would not have the students share the name of their author until the end of the Blabberized video because I would want the class to first try to figure out who the author was. I think this would be a great way for students to share what they learned about an author from writing their reports without just simply reading off their reports in front of the class. In addition, a teacher could simply use Blabberize to introduce the author of a book that the students will be reading as a class. Another way that this could be used in RLA is by having the students choose a/the main character from a book they are reading and draw a picture of this character, scan it, and describe the main character in this way using Blabberize. The possibilities are endless with this tool. In addition, this would be a great way for students to practice fluency and would also introduce them to the idea of presenting in front of others in a non-threatening way. Overall, students really have the creative license to take these project ideas and fly.
As a side note… If you are going to have students under the age of 13 use this site, then a parent or guardian permission is required.

Sources:
1. Photo retrieved from Photobucket at http://media.photobucket.com/image/beverly%20cleary/HAF_becky_ELFINGR/beverlycleary.jpg?o=3.
2. Information about Beverly Cleary:
The World of Beverly Cleary. (2010). HarperCollins Publishers Inc. Retrieved on March 26, 2010 from
http://www.beverlycleary.com/beverlycleary/index.html.



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